Sunday, May 9, 2010

Encouragement

A rare thing happened to me during my run today; a motorist slowed down and offered me an encouraging word. Most distance runners are used to the sideways looks, the sarcastic comments, and the Forrest Gump jokes, but what we aren't used to is fans. The gentleman in the gray saturn may or may not be a runner or a running fan, but the simple act of rolling down his window and telling me to keep on pushing up the hill was enough to buoy me through the rest of my run.

And this got me thinking: Who are our fans? Who encourages us the most? So on this day, May 9th, Mother's Day, lets thank Mom for the kind words and the gentle encouragements. It cannot be easy to be the mother of a runner - with all the cooking, laundering of dirty running clothes, and countless hours spent standing around just to watch us run for a couple of minutes as we rush by in short shorts. And I'm especially grateful for my Mom who still comes out and supports me and indulges my habit even though I'm now a grown man and no longer a skinny high school kid.

Happy Mothers Day.

3 comments:

HighlandsHashers said...

What a great testiment to all mothers out there today !!

Happy Mothers Day !

Dave said...

Perhaps that motorist liked your shorts?. I ran the other night and the guy in the gray pick up truck yelled out A$$h*13. That's Jersey.

JB said...

Fellas... good meeting you last night.

Gene, let me know what info you need to add me as a contributor so I can post.